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Nobody is about to call Jim Caldwell "bipolar" any time soon. Sean Payton, on the other hand ...

"During the week he is a normal guy, but on game day he is a different person," New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush says of his head coach, Payton.

"It is almost like he is bipolar. He is absolutely intense on game days. You don't want to approach him because you don't know if he is going to snap on you. That is just him."

This may be an inappropriate and crude use of the term bipolar, a serious disorder and apologies to those affected by it, but most will catch Bush's colloquial drift.

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If Payton can sometimes be the picture of intensity, his counterpart with the Indianapolis Colts, Caldwell, is the consistent face of calm, cool, collected. He says, "There might be a phase every once in a while that there will be a fiery side that comes.

"Nevertheless, this game, which I've said before time and time again, does not take great speech makers. It's not inspiration by exhortation.

"I'm not an individual that's gifted with golden-throated oratory. We like to keep it simple and straightforward and I think our team responds to that."

How the opposing coaches in Sunday's Super Bowl got here is less important than the fact they are here thanks to their teams' win-loss records, which made them the No. 1 seeds in their respective conferences.

But football is the ultimate schemers' game and the role these head coaches have played leading up to this matchup at Sun Life Dolphins Stadium has been absolutely crucial.

For all their seeming differences, Payton and Caldwell have much in common.

They both have specialized in offence and, especially in the all-important role of the quarterback. Caldwell, 55, has been looking over Peyton Manning's throwing shoulder since joining the Colts eight years ago, a crucial factor in his being named to take over the head job from retiring Tony Dungy this season.

Payton, 46, got his first NFL head coaching job with the Saints in 2006, replacing Jim Haslett and coinciding with the arrival post-Katrina of his own best asset, QB Drew Brees.

Neither man had much of a pro playing career. Payton bears the distinction of having played one year, 1987, with the Chicago Bruisers of the Arena league, the Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL and the NFL's Chicago (Spare) Bears, the latter as a replacement during the players' strike that season.

The next year he showed up in England in the uniform of the Leicester Panthers, then decided his future was in coaching, getting his first NFL assistant's job with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1997, then moving on to the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys before getting the big break with the Saints.

Caldwell, a defensive back in college, was head coach at Wake Forest before Dungy – they share a fundamental Christian faith as well as common football philosophies – hired him on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then took him along to shared glories in Indianapolis. He has big shoes to fill.

"The expectations were high, but the great thing about it was that I didn't have to do it alone. I was following an icon, not just a coach, but a guy that transcends coaching," says Caldwell.

"A global personality that has done so many great things not only for our profession but also for our communities in general across the world.

"He's real sought after in terms of his decision making. It's very, very strong and decisive as you well know. It's been a daunting task to try to replace him and be him. I've had 55 years of practice of being myself."

Caldwell downplays the fact he has a chance to become the fourth black head coach to win a Super Bowl, joining Dungy, Lovie Smith and Mike Tomlin. "I think it's not quite as big of a story as it was a few years back, and I think that's a good thing.

"Because of the fact that I think ultimately we're all judged by one thing anyway and that's obviously that ledger how many wins and how many losses."

Payton was named coach of the year in his rookie season with New Orleans and, despite some setbacks along the way, has compiled a win-loss record of 41-27, including playoffs.

He has had a key mentor, too – Bill Parcells, who hired him on the Cowboys staff.

"He knows how to win and I learned an awful lot in a short period of time, three years," says Payton. "I look back on my career and I was touched by so many people that were successful and they're a big reason why I'm here right now. I'm humbled by that. When you think about that opportunity for a young guy to work for a Hall of Fame coach, it's invaluable.

"Honestly, he hired me over the phone. The very last thing we discussed was salary and benefits and any of that stuff. I hadn't even met him. ... All of the other things were more important to him. The football and the passion ... those were the things that he got excited about. We just drew on napkins on that flight into Dallas for about 2 1/2 hours. He did most of the drawing and I just watched and listened. I had a couple of pieces of luggage and he had about eight with his tailored suits and everything."

Now here he is, the bombs-away schemer – his few critics accuse Payton of being too aggressive at times – charged with finding a way to beat Caldwell and the favoured Colts, win New Orleans its first Super Bowl.

"I think Sean is a great play caller," says Caldwell. "He has an incredible knack for finding weaknesses and setting plays up and then taking advantage of opportunities that the defence presents. He's a very aggressive play caller."

Caldwell's classy CEO-manner masks, of course, some aggressiveness of his own. He concedes nothing.

Linebacker Gary Brackett has seen the fire flare in Caldwell.

"Pretty much, what you see is what you get. He's not really a very emotional guy. He does get fired up during some pre-game speeches, he does get riled up."

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